Pubdate: Sun, 18 Sep 2005 Source: Columbian, The (WA) Copyright: 2005 The Columbian Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.columbian.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/92 Author: Scott Hewitt Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) CANTWELL STUMPS FOR METH FIGHT Hours after the Senate passed her budget amendment adding $20 million to the national effort to fight methamphetamine, Sen. Maria Cantwell was in Hazel Dell talking up the potential victory. It's not a victory yet, the Democratic lawmaker told law enforcement officials and firefighters, because the House of Representatives has yet to reconcile its own budget plans with the Senate's and because the White House only requested $20 million total. The initial Senate target was $60.1 million. The Senate's approval Thursday night of Cantwell's budget amendment, bringing the total to $80 million to fight meth, is an all-time high, Cantwell said. "We want to give law enforcement all the tools they need to fight this problem," she said. The money would be earmarked for a meth "hot spots" account that's available to local law enforcement. The funds go directly to state and local law enforcement programs to combat meth trafficking and production, and to clean up hazardous sites. Cantwell noted that Washington state has already made progress in the effort, dropping from the state with the second most meth labs to the fifth. But meth-related deaths rose by 10 percent in Washington at the same time, she noted. A pressing problem, she said, is the state-by-state regulations that tend to push the problem from one place to another. Oregon now requires a prescription to get pseudoephedrine, the cold-medicine ingredient that serves as a base for methamphetamine, but Washington doesn't yet. "We know people are coming over here to get it," said Toni Eby, who coordinates the Clark County Meth Action Team for the sheriff's office. "They're one step ahead, and so the problem moves up here." Eby said law enforcement is pressing for tough, coast-to-coast pseudoephedrine regulation chiefly that it would require a prescription to buy in any state. The pharmaceutical lobby, she said, is pressing right back. Cantwell said $80 million in funds to fight meth nationwide still isn't enough, and that the White House has attempted to cut some meth funding in past budgets. "I'm not sure they understand how pervasive it is," she said. Cantwell was at Fire District No. 6, Station 1, on Hazel Dell Avenue to talk about the budget amendment. She examined a hazardous materials truck and the equipment it contains. That's everything from chemical hazard detectors and oxygen gear to portable showers for the meth cooks and, often, children and other innocent bystanders who need to be hosed down after they've been contaminated by the drug. Todd and Anita Apple of Puyallup were on hand to thank the senator and describe their own struggle with meth addiction. They said they cooked the drug for years, and multiple arrests, bad burns and even an emergency helicopter trip to the burn center at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle didn't quench their addiction. They finally quit together, Todd Apple said, after he realized that nobody really wanted him, "except bounty hunters and the police." "I accepted the fact that I was going to die of it," said Apple, who now works with the state on a program called Meth Lab 101 teaching firefighters and paramedics how to identify meth labs. He also talks about his experience in schools. "When I talk to kids about it, I make some promises," Apple said. The first two meth promises on his list: You will become addicted to it, and you will become its slave. Update Previously: Last year the methamphetamine "hot spots" account, a federal fund aimed at bolstering law enforcement and education, received $52 million. What's new: The Senate on Friday approved a budget amendment sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell that boosts funding of the fight against methamphetamine to $80 million. What's next: In the coming weeks, Senate and House negotiators will get together to agree on a fiscal 2006 budget, including the meth "hot spots" fund. - ---